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Apple’s iChat application enables small business owners to make free video calls over the Internet, and when iChat freezes, you will want to check out your Mac to fix the problem. If you use iChat to communicate with employees or to communicate with clients or customers, it’s prudent to know about possible causes of freezing video so you can get back to your conversation to avoid a loss in productivity or lost business.

Bandwidth

If iChat freezes while you are in the middle of a video call on your Mac, the problem could be a lack of bandwidth. Quit any applications that use bandwidth, such as a file transfer program, an email client or a program that streams audio or video. If you must allow other applications to continue using bandwidth during your video chat, open iChat, click the "iChat" menu, select “Preferences,” choose “Audio/Video” and select a lower limit from the Bandwidth Limit drop-down menu.

Other Applications

Sometimes iChat will not run smoothly because your Mac’s processor is burdened with too many open applications. Quit any applications that are running but which you no longer need. For example, processor-intensive applications such as graphics or video editing programs may require too much of your Mac’s attention to allow it to process the video during your iChat session.

Restart Mac

If iChat still suffers from frozen video after you’ve made sure your Mac’s bandwidth is free and the processor isn’t occupied by other applications, try restarting your Mac. A restart frees up memory that was used by other applications, and lets you use iChat with a clean slate.

Internet Congestion

Sometimes the problem with iChat isn’t on your Mac, but is caused by Internet congestion. The person with whom you are speaking may have a local problem on her network that prevents video data from transmitting to your Mac, for example. The servers that handle connections between different Macs may be down or working at reduced capacity, leading to random video freezing.

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About the Author

Julius Vandersteen has been a freelance writer since 1999. His work has appeared in “The Los Angeles Times,” “Wired” and “S.F. Weekly.” Vandersteen has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from San Francisco State University.